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The Well of Knowledge/Interviews
< Back to Main Page In this section, we interview popular members of the Wiki! __TOC__ A C P L - Admin February 2015 This month, we interview another admin. [[User:A C P L|'A C P L']] is his (OCD-giving) name, and wielding the Knuckleduster is his game. How did you get into Pixel Dungeon? What brought you to PD Wiki? I searched up “Pixel RPG” and found Pixel Dungeon. After a while of playing I wondered if there was a wiki for it, and found this site. Unfortunately, it was rather malnourished on information! I thought to myself, “No, no no. I need to make this look nice and grow into a better infobase!”. Hence why I’m here now. What's with you and your knuckleduster feti-er, preference (other than destroying the Monks)? I think it's quite badass completing a game with the lowest tier weapon. What about the dagger, though? Owww… Anyways, why do I get the eerie feeling your favorite classes are Mage and Warrior... I actually don't have a preferred class. * Warrior is fun and all, but not very challenging. * Mage is somewhat harder, though get a decent Wand of Firebolt and he powers through things. * Rogue is pure skill and fun, putting up a decent challenge without being infuriating. * Huntress is the challenge (most likely why you need to beat what many consider the hardest boss in the game to unlock her). How would you react if I walked up to you with a pair of brass knuckles and punched you square in the face? I'd slap you into Depth 26. Uh… you kinda did that already…Jerk… Anyways, why do you seem like you're yelling on your profile? Are you trying to sound like Leroy Jenkins or something? Haha, no. All the names of the fields were in CAPS. Naturally, I decided to put it in caps as well... Ethaniel - Head Admin January 2015 For our second interview, we meet with [[User:Ethaniel|'Ethaniel']], the head admin and another very-well-known member of the wiki! He's known for helping with coding both from the game and for our templates such as and text, alongside Mdsimmo. (No, he is not Watabou, as proven [[Thread:26291|'there']].) How did you get to know and love PD and the associated Wiki? What's your history with it? I don’t remember at all how I discovered Pixel Dungeon, but the only thing I’m sure of is that I wasn’t searching for a game: I always discover games serendipitously by reading articles (online or free newspapers) or blog posts or whatever which mention said games as a side note. For instance I recently discovered Ikariam in the French “Greek fire” Wikipedia article and Manufactoria in an old xkcd blog post. Concerning the wiki, it’s pretty easy: Each time I’m hooked by a game more than few days long, I search for a Wikia. Because it’s what Wikia is for. ;) My history with the wiki always follows the same pattern: First I just read some articles (if I remember well, I first searched for tips on how to beat that unbeatable Goo: I learned how his “!!!” works), then I check the code of the pages that are similar to each other (it was bosses’ pages), then I cry because it’s just copy and paste with the same typos having to be corrected multiple times, then I write a template in order to reduce data duplication, then another template, then another one, then I refactor some articles and reorganize data and correct some typos, then before I realize it I’m one of the main contributors without having really added any new piece of information! I’m definitely more a “how”-guy than a “what”-guy. :Þ I've heard of history between you and Shadow Automaton during his early days. It isn't surprising considering you're the two most well-known Admins here! Could you provide some insight? Uh oh? I’ve never heard about that history… It's right below this interview, I believe. Oh, I see, the 12/14 interview. Shadow Automaton is indeed a noticeable contributor, with a high edit-per-day rate even before he finally registered. I remember that, because of that huge volume of contributions, I had to do a lot of wiki-code cleanup (I’m not blaming him at all: As I already wrote to him (I hope so!) not everybody has a 10-year experience in wiki syntax, and everybody has to learn (my very first Wikipedia edits are totally shameful!)): He adds a lot of new stuff (the “what”) while I’m cleaning up the encoding and display of that stuff (the “how”) before he learns how to do it by himself. But the true point that made me promote him as a sysop is his valuable involvement in the forum part (where, additionally to the “what”, he performs a great lot of “how” work): He’s our (unofficial) Forum Moderator. ;) By the way, don’t forget Mdsimmo, he’s a very great admin too, he shall be as well-known as the other ones are! Heh... yeah... ' '' '''What are some of your best/worst moments in PD? My first best moment in the game was when I figured out by myself the “stairs strategy” in order to finally beat the Goo (it wasn’t documented here at that time). My overall best moment was probably when I’ve seen Yog-Dzewa defeated for the first time: This exploit was achieved by “Flies Killer” (stage name), a Huntress who farmed a lot of Potions of Healing; Her life was thus much more easy then. ;) My worst moment was… I don’t know, all my epic failure were due either to dumb errors from my part or to killing unluck, I don’t remember any failure due to a bug (which would have qualified as a worst moment). What's the biggest "Thing" (Dispute, major mistake, etc.) you've solved? I’d say that dispute, when a contributor claimed many times that the Wand of Regrowth had been replaced in v1.7.1 by a Wand of Frost, even threatening me as I kept checking the code again and again and never finding that wand. I’ve never had the final word of this story, so I stick to my “it’s a mod” hypothesis. Yeah, I saw that, but he said it was just removed all together in the one I saw. Anywho, you always seem just... ''so "''official". Why do we rarely see your more humorous side (or maybe this is you when you're laid back...?)? You’re right… ^^" I think that the main reason is that “my” humor type (the one I’m (sometimes) able to produce) is based on puns; As English is not my native language I’ve a terrible lack of vocabulary, of words I could freely play with. Another reason may be that my image here is “the guy who knows lots of math stuff about the game” (I prefer the term “ludophysicist” :Þ), so trying (and failing ^^" —see previous sentence—) to do jokes may make me sort of… I don’t know, maybe “unreliable”. OK, I know that Richard Feynman was both a great scientist and a very humorous guy, but I’m not like him in either way! :Þ Aww, you're scientific! You even have a sweet beard! I feel so special... What would you say about how far this humble community has come? What do you think was your part in it? I’d say that our community has come very far, in both directions (horizontally and vertically). * Horizontally, almost any item and any property (enchantments, etc.) is covered (most of them even have their own single articles), very few “objects” (i.e. static things which can be literally seen in the game) are missing; In addition, many “processes” (i.e. dynamic things) are covered too. * Vertically, I’ve seen many wikis that just scratch the surface of their subject: Here, we sometimes dive deeply in the lower layers of the game! In addition, all that data is organized in a rather pleasant way I think (imagine just a single Main Page containing the whole wiki content: That is unpleasant). (HUEGH!) Yeah. Like that. I think that I’ve contributed in two ways (among the three points detailed above): * as said above, I’ve helped with the data organization by writing lots of templates (which are not always easy to use by uninformed contributors: Sorry for the lack of documentation) and by trying to split the “list of XXX” articles into dedicated single articles, * thanks to my experience in code reading (smali was new to me, but not assembly) and in maths, I’ve helped in the understanding of some game mechanics. Fortunately, Mdsimmo does a great job on those two axis too, before he arrived I sometimes felt a bit alone when a templates or a piece of code started to be tricky. ^^" Finally, name one item you'd like to see made IRL (not including expensive things, like gems not rule out those sorts of things, though) from the game/community. ANY ITEM. Figurines of things count. It depends: With or without their in-game effect? ;) Without. Basically if it was something on Etsy. Well, I'll tell you the answer to both anyways. * With their effect, I’d really like a Wand of Blink (in order to travel effortless and independently of some terrible public transport operators)-- But then you'd need to find a cartoonishly convenient wall, AND a clear path to said wall... * --and a Ring of Haste (because there’s so many things I’d like to read and learn, 42 lifetimes won’t be enough), each of them with infinite level of course :Þ. * Without their effect, the Amulet of Yendor would be nice I think (yes, I know it’s an obvious answer!) That's all for our January article! Come next month as we interview A C P L! Shadow Automaton - Forum Admin December 2014 For the New Year's article, we start with [[User:Shadow Automaton|'Shadow Automaton']], arguably one of the most well-known members, who greets every new member with a nice message! He is known for helping settle disputes and being extremely active. (Note: Rumors of him having a Statue fetish have been '''disproved'. Please refrain from saying this.)'' Question 1: What made you get into PD, and become such an important member of our wiki? Ahahah (^_^)' Well, I don't know about being "such an important member of our wiki", but as far as what got me into PD.. I was just browsing the Google Play Store one afternoon, looking for that (free) killer app I could play, that wasn't a social/casual game & could really give me a challenge (since I identify myself as more of a hardcore/dedicated gamer, and have been missing my console games for a while, due to lack of free time), and I happened upon Pixel Dungeon. I saw the Locked Chest icon & the title "Pixel Dungeon", and was instantly reminded of the old "Dungeons & Dragons" game that I used to play, once upon a time, so instantly, there was already that nostalgia-factor that drew me in. I decided to tap on it & check the images out, to see if it would show any in-game screenshots, so I'd have an idea of how the game played. I then read through the rest of what the game was about. I hadn't played any "traditional roguelike" games before that, so after seeing the in-game screenshots, reading how difficult the roguelike subgenré of RPG was (& the fact that it's an RPG), and the idea of "perma-death" (similarly to the WiiU game, ZombiU), I was intrigued & decided right then & there to take its difficulty on as a challenge & download PD. I guess one could say that PD's my very first roguelike game. =D After going through the menu & playing a few sessions, I realized there was so much about the game that I didn't know & basically had to figure out on the fly, since there wasn't really any "How To Play"/Instructions (U.I., mechanisms, et c.) on the menu. So, I decided to seek out more information on the game, when I saw that it had a dedicated, community-maintained wikia. After looking through the wiki & discovering that it had a severe lack of detailed information on the game, I decided to take it upon myself to be among the vanguards/trailblazers of providing such information for everyone else, especially since the game was still in Beta at the time. Fact: [[Sad ghost#comm-8936|My very first (anon.) comment] was providing intel on the (new-at-the-time) Sad Ghost N.P.C. Ethaniel can attest to this, as it took me a while to finally create an account, after he encouraged me to do so 2-3 times. LoL] And I guess the rest is history! (^_^)' Question 2: What were your best and worst moments in PD? Well, I guess, for my best, one needn't look any further than my b'Log post: My Archive of Victorious Sessions ' =D As for my worst moments.. oh man.. It'd definitely have to be all the times I mis-tapped the screen & ended up dying (''or otherwise losing an awesome item) because of that easily-avoidable mistake. That & getting killed by the seriously ridiculous Senior Monk. One of these guys approached while I was about 50% health & proceeded to drop my health to zero, without the U.I. letting me do anything about it, due to his Paralyzed debuff proccing on my Hero/ine. I had so many Potions of Health I'd farmed beforehand & I was so fumed that the U.I. locked me out of drinking one, as I helplessly watched my healthbar drop from 50% to zero. I wanted to ragequit so badly, but instead vowed revenge on his kind. XD (I also now make sure I have a Potion of Purification on-hand before deciding to fight one these guys.) '''Question 3: Why did you choose the Animated Statue to be so significant to you? Maybe some memorable moment in game? Ooph; many reasons. LoL Firstly, because it's a very unique enemy in-game. There currently aren't any other enemies in the game that have a guaranteed drop of an enchanted weapon - a weapon which they attacked with. I thought that was a pretty clever & intelligent design on Watabou's part. And the fact that one could preview what type of weapon & enchantment it was holding, before deciding whether or not to fight it for its weapon, was very fascinating (& convenient) for me. So was the fact that fighting them's purely optional. Secondly, the game/dungeon also treated these guys as special enemies, placing them behind locked doors that must be unlocked, if one wanted access to them. Already, they had an air of prestige, and presented a challenge with a (usually) desirable reward. Thirdly, the game also treats them like mid-stage mini-bosses, which provides a welcome change of pace. Fourthly, they're among the few humanoid enemies that actually look pretty cool/bad4$$; and they remind me of the playable characters from Castle Crashers. Which in turn, drove me to the idea/desire of wanting to play as an Animated Statue. A character with a more generic look, that I could better identify myself as, and in the process, feel more immersed in the game - a "Custom Hero", if you will. (Unlike the other Hero/ines, that have a distinct look to them.) There's another, more personal reason (which I won't go into), but yeah! The Animated Statue rocks! LoL (..Get it? XD ) Question 4: Should I create an actual pasty, flash-freeze it, and send it to your house? What would you do? Hahahah; I honestly can't come up with anything... That's entirely up to you. But if you do decide to do it, just a heads up that I'm a pescavore/pescetarian. XD Great... I don't know where you live :/... O_O Let's keep it that way... Thanks again for the tremendous support you've lent the project! No problem; you're very welcome!! (^_^) That's all! The next edition is out, give it a read!Category:The Well of KnowledgeCategory:Interview